As Adam Furtado recuperates from being beaten outside Velouria Records on Main Street, police have been working to identify the suspects using nearby surveillance video.

Ten days after the brutal assault, a break in the case came when Sgt. Ozzie Dominguez noticed one suspect had a distinctive haircut. The suspect's picture was emailed agency-wide and the youth services officer from Mt. Whitney High School recognized the teenager — with a bleach-blond faux-hawk — right away.

"He had a very noticeable hairdo," Dominguez said. "This is how a lot of cases are solved, one officer may not recognize the suspect, but another does. In this case, the suspects were well-known to the officer at Mt. Whitney."

Officers waited for the students to go back to school and on Wednesday, investigators lead by Detective Chris Jennings, swooped in and arrested two male juveniles, one 16 and one 17. They were arrested at Mt. Whitney without incident.

Velouria Records on Main Street is one of the premier vinyl record stores in Tulare County.
(Photo:
Eric Woomer
)

The arrests come at a time when Furtado and his girlfriend, Tawnya Zito, who owns Velouria, needed good news.

"We are so thankful. We have never been through anything like this. This is a step back, but we will move forward," Zito said. "I can't believe something like this could happen. You hear about it, but never believe it could happen to you."

Furtado was taking out the trash late on the night of May 3. Surveillance video shows the two boys on bicycles pass Furtado and then circle around. When he turned around, they attacked, police said. He was kicked and punched and suffered major injuries to his head. He required several stitches and had his teeth shattered by the attackers.

He's suffering from a severe concussion, Zito said.

Zito said she was unaware anything had happened. It wasn't until she heard a noise from the back of the store that she began to worry. She rushed out to find her boyfriend lying in a pool of blood. Emergency crews rushed to the scene and Furtado was taken to Kaweah Delta Medical Center.

"He's trying to stay strong. We want to put this behind us," Zito said. "He's actually keeping me together more than I am keeping him together."

Zito said Furtado hasn't said much about that night. He's more in disbelief, she said.

Furtado had just been paid that day and had a wallet full of cash, bank cards and his identification. Furtado's sister, Amber, set up an account shortly after the attack to help with mounting medical bills and lost pay from missing work at two jobs.

Her goal is $10,000 by the end of August. Zito was forced to close the store for several days over the past two weeks to take care of Furtado. The couple left the area for several days to allow Furtado to get out of Visalia.

Police said they will seek assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and conspiracy charges.